Kantana adding training courses to serve digital TV

The Kantana Institute is placing an emphasis on more professional training programmes for new broadcasters of digital TV in a bid to meet demand for skilled workers in this booming industry.

"We are co-designing and co-creating a series of intensive training programmes with highly experienced people in order to meet an increase in demand from new digital terrestrial TV broadcasters, and we expect to introduce it to those TV operators in November," Panadda Thanasatit, president of the Kantana Institute, said yesterday.

The training programmes will be designed to meet the need to fill key positions at stations, ranging from producers, scriptwriters, and graphic designers to mid-management employees.

There should be about 50 people a course, with the cost Bt15,000 per person. The courses will run from one to three months.

Panadda said that next year the institute expected to welcome more than 500 students.

Twenty-four digital TV channels were launched in June and there will be 48 channels in the near future.

In line with the programmes, the institute has also launched a master's degree programme in entertainment management for executives from digital TV stations. The degree will cover costs, employment management, TV programming and marketing.

Jareuk Kaljareuk, chairman of the Kantana Group - a parent company of the Kantana Institute - said: "Amid the transition to the digital terrestrial TV era, this is the right moment for our institute, which has had a strong foothold in the education sector for six years."

In addition to its educational role in the entertainment industry, the Kantana Institute aims to be a leading regional player, particularly after the full implementation of the Asean Economic Community next year.

Neighbouring countries

Panadda said the institute expected to welcome more students for intensive training programmes from neighbouring countries such as Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam through its business network in those countries. These include Kantana Post-Production (Vietnam) and Channel 5 in Cambodia.

Recently the institute organised several training programmes for VTC9, the state-owned operator of Vietnam's culture channel, and Ho Chi Minh City Television.

Meanwhile, to capitalise on rising demand in the film and entertainment industry in Asean, the Kantana Group is focusing more on film post-production for clients in the region.

The company is targeting Bt1.1 billion in billings this year.

Last year, the country's leading TV and film production house earmarked about Bt1.5 billion from delivering new digital equipment and developing employee skills to meet the needs of clients in the region.

Kantana Post Production (Thailand), a subsidiary company, plans to increase its film-production capacity for clients in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam from 40 last year to 100 this year.